THE PRESIDENT: But, Dr. Nelte, supposing that one of the witnesses who had been examined by one of the committees set up by the Government had made a report not to the Government at all, but an affidavit or something of that sort, and that had been offered to the Court and the witness had been available, the Court might very possible have refused to entertain that affidavit or report. But if that report was the foundation for a government report or for a government official document, then, by Article 21, the Tribunal is directed to entertain such a report.
Therefore, the fact that the Tribunal has already said that they wouldn't have some private affidavit or report of General Westhoff unless General Westhoff were called, isn't relevant at all. It is a question of whether they ought to entertain a report which you admit comes within Article 21.
DR. NELTE: Mr. President, I do not doubt that your Lordship is correct. I should like only to bring up the question whether, when there are two different sources of evidence, namely, on the one hand the report, and on the other the possibility of calling the witness in person, it would not be preferable to take the testimony of the witness into consideration as well, not in order to correct the official report, but in order to clarify what the witness really said, because in the report we do not in actuality apprehend what he really said. Keitel, who allegedly issued an order, namely the order to shoot the flight officers. One should, I believe, if a witness is present who could clarify this question, call this witness instead of relying on an official report which already contains an evaluation.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Nelte, in the first place this report doesn't proceed only or even substantially upon the evidence of General Westhoff, but a number of other origins of the report, and the second thing is that the whole object of Article 21 was to make government reports admissible and not to necessitate the calling of the witnesses upon whose evidence they proceeded.
DR. NELTE: Other witnesses are mentioned in the report, but those witnesses said nothing, as far as I know, about the question of whether Keitel actually issued an order for these executions. The only witness of all those mentioned who says anything on this matter is General Westhoff.
THE PRESIDENT: Had you wished to say anything further in argument upon the admissiblity of the document?
DR. NELTE: No.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I believe, Mr. President, that the part of the document which concerns Major General Westhoff includes only one point, and that is Point 7 of the document. The document speaks of other phases of commission of this crime. Besides, this is an official report which is presented according to Article 21 of the Charter.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you wish to say anything further, Dr. Nelte?
DR. NELTE: No, thank you. I simply asked the Court to decide. It is possible that I shall have to call General Westhoff as a witness to testify that this report is false in the conclusions that it draws, and that what it says does not correspond to previous testimony.
DR. KUBUSCHOK (Counsel for the Reich Cabinet): I should like to make a few legal remarks regarding Article 21 of the Charter. of direct evidence. Only when it is impossible to make use of direct evidence is part of the trial, in a way, transferred outside the courtroom. In most criminal trials in the various countries, we have a provision similar to that in Article 21 that previous decisions of the court do not have to be reiterated, at further trials, but that these decisions are binding.
In this trial, the Charter extends the provision to cases such as this, which because of their extent cannot be further discussed. Consequently, it is clear from Article 21 that provision has been made that official reports, government reports, are valid as evidence. Every lawyer knows that this provision is a legal blemish, in a way, because through it certain rights are lost to the defendants. On the other hand, one cannot take the line of argument that there are complicated situations which, because of their length cannot be discussed in a temporally limited trial. ty of accepting such reports as evidence, but this provision is no binding obligation on the Court so far as I can see in the German text that I have before me. The provision provides that the Court is to take such reports in evidence, but it is not said that the Court must do so. It is left to the discretion of the Tribunal whether the nature of the report makes it advisable to accept such a report in evidence. clearly to be seen that the Tribunal should make use of its discretion and should reject this document, and the Defense have taken the point of view that this piece of evidence could be settled by a witness. The hearing of the witness would provide the Defense Counsel with the right of cross examination. Since, for practical reasons, the witness will not be called, the transference of his evidence into a government report subsequently deprives him of the right of cross examination, in contradiction to the article of the Charter which permits the Defense the right of cross examination.
DR STAHMER (Counsel for the defendant G oering): It was not until today that the accusation was made that Goering knew of and ordered the execution of these fliers. I took no regard of this fact in the preparation of my case because I didn't even know of it, and I should like to request, therefore, the right to call further witnesses in the discussion of this question.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: May I add a word, Mr President?
THE PRESIDENT: On the question of admissibility?
COLONEL SMIRNOV: Yes, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I consider that it is difficult to understand from a legal point of view the objections of the Defense Counsel for they introduce a qualitative distinction into this argument, considering that there are large crimes and small crimes, and Article 21 of the Charter concerns large crimes and therefore cannot apply to small crimes, I consider that from a legal point of view this argumentation is rather disputable and Article 21 can apply to any crime of the Hitlerites without respect to whether the scale is large or small.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn (A recess was taken.)
THE PRESIDENT: Mr Roberts, the Tribunal would like to know where these appendices which are referred to in paragraph 9 of the report are.
MR. ROBERTS: I think they are with the Tribunal now, in charge of the Clerk of the court.
THE PRESIDENT: Have they all been included? You can undertake, I suppose, to produce them all if they are not all of thorn there?
MR ROBERTS: Most certainly. I understood that all the material is not necessary, but I understood the whole of the material to be there, all in the original, of course.
THE PRESIDENT: Then, the Tribunal decides that the document will be admitted, and the Tribunal will summon, if he is available--and we think he is--General Westhoff, and that will be, in effect, granting the defendants' application to call General Westhoff, and also to call the officer mentioned in paragraph 3(b) of the appendix, whose surname I believe to be Wieland. I don't know whether you know where he is.
MR. ROBERTS: I will make inquiries and I will undertake to the Tribunal that we will do everything in our power to get the witnesses that are required for the defense, namely, General Westhoff, who is in Nurnberg, I understands-
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. ROBERTS:--and General Wieland. I am not certain where he is, but I will find out.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
DR KRAUS: Mr President, you have made a remark during the session with which the defendants' counsel are very much concerned.
As we understood it, it has been said that private affidavits would not be accepted by the Tribunal. This question of affidavits, since we have to present our proof, is very urgent. That is why I went to clarify that question.
THE PRESIDENT: I don't think I said that affidavits could not be admitted. What I said was, it night be that affidavits would not be admitted if the witness was available to give direct evidence. That is the rule which we we have enforced throughout the trial.
DR KRAUS: Yes, sir. If I understand it correctly, in principle we may submit affidavits, whether certified by notary public or by a lawyer or whether they only bear the signature of the person who makes the statement a simple letter which has been written with the statement "I declare under oath". The second type is where the signature has been certified by a lawyer; and the third type is the one on which a certificate has been made by a notary public. we are preparing to present them and we hope we will be permitte to present these documents, in order to avoid the calling of witnesses.
THE PRESIDENT: I think that in all probability the matter will be considered when you present the applications for giving evidence by affidavit. We have today in dealing with the first four defendants allowed, in a variety of instances, that interrogatories should be administered to various witnesses, where it appeared appropriate that that should be done, in order to save time. No doubt the same rule will apply when you come to submit your applications,
DR. KRAUS: Yes, sir. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Smirnov, would it be more convenient for you to go on with your presentation now on this document which we have admitted, or do you rash to present a film?
COLONEL SMIRNOV: Mr President, I would like to finish the presentation of this proof and to read this document.
THE PRESIDENT: Very, well, but the Tribunal, I think desire that these two witnesses, Colonel Westhoff and Wieland, whatever his rank may be, should be produced for examination as soon as possible afterwards. I don't mean this afternoon, because that wouldn't be possible, but, if possible, tomorrow.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: If you will allow me, I will beg the representative "_ of the British delegation to answer this question.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Roberts, Colonel Smirnov was saying he would ask you to answer, because I was saying the Tribunal would like to have the witnesses called as soon as possible after the report was read.
MR. ROBERTS: Westhoff we know about. If your Lordship will give me a few minutes I will try to find out where Wieland can be located.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR ROBERTS: But I shall have to leave the court, then, My Lord.
THE PRESIDENT: Just a minute.
Colonel Smirnov, wouldn't it be equally convenient to go on with the film now in order that the report, when it is presented, can be presented as close as possible to the evidence of the witnesses? Otherwise, suppose Mr. Roberts is unable to locate Wieland this afternoon. It might be that if you read the report now there might be a week possibly or even more between the reading of the report and the evidence of the witness. Is it possible to go on with the film now?
COLONEL SMIRNOV: All right, Mr. President.
We cannot call this a film in the full sense of this word. It is far more serious a photograph, which was taken by the Germans themselves and which has been recorded on a reel. It is therefore not a film but a photographic document. This reel is submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit YU 105. Government presented photographs on all the counts of the Indictment. We have excluded those which concerned other counts and included only those which concerned crimes against humanity. Therefore only a part of the document will be presented to the Tribunal. May I show these photographs?
(The photographic document referred to was shown on the screen).
COLONEL SMIRNOV: May I continue, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: In order to allow the Prosecution to ascertain the whereabouts of the two witnesses, I will pass on to the next part of my statement. Do you allow me to do so, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I pass on to the persecution of the Jews. The extreme anti-Semitism of the Hitlerite criminals, which acquired the logical aspects, is well known. I will not quote the so-called works of the principal war criminals, -- of Hitler, or Goering or Streicher -- which proved this fact. In the countries of Eastern Europe, all the antiSemitism of the Hitlerites was put into effect in one way -- physical extermination of innocent people. of the reports of a special organization of German Fascism, the so-called Operational Group A, which was submitted as USA Exhibit L-180. Our American colleagues submitted the report which covered the period to 15 October 1941. The Soviet prosecution submits a report which is a continuation of the first, from 16 October 1941 to 31 January 1942. I submit to the Tribunal a photostatic copy of this report, as USSR Exhibit 57, and I beg the Tribunal to allow me to read a few short excerpts from the third chapter of this report, which is entitled, "Jews". I wish to call the attention of the Tribunal to the fact that the data included in this report refer only to one organization; that is to say, to the Einsatzgruppen, or Operational Group A. I quote from page 170 of the document book:
"The systematic task of cleansing the East according to fundamental orders to liquidate to the full the Jews. This objective has been realized in its main points. If we include Byelorussia, 239,052 Jews have been executed. The Jews remaining in the Baltic provinces are being mobilized for work and being sent to the Ghettos." entitled "Estonia."
"The execution of Jews, as far as the latter were not necessary for work, were gradually carried out by units of the Shutzpolizei and the SD. At the present moment, there are no longer any Jews in Esthonia."
I quote another short excerpt from the chapter entitled "Latvia." I quote one line on page 2 of the Russian text, page 171 of the document book:
"When the German troops entered Latvia, there were still 70,000 Jews there." text, page 172 of the document book:
"By October 1941 the special kommandos have executed exactly 30,000 Jews."
I again break off and continue with the following sentence:
"Frequently further executions were carried out. Thus, for instance, on the 9th of November 1941 in Bielsk, 11,034 Jews were executed. At the beginning of December 1941, as a result of an operation which was carried out in Riga following the order of the former chief of the SS and police, 27,800 persons were executed, and in the middle of December 1941 in Liban, 2,453 Jews were executed. At the present moment, in the Ghetto, besides the Jews from Germany, there are exactly: in Riga, 2500 persons; in Doinsk, 950, and in Libau, 300 persons."
THE PRESIDENT: Can you tell me where these figures come from? Are they an official report, or are they German figures.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: These are the data which were published by the Germans themselves. This document was found in the archives of the Gestapo by the troops of the Red Army. between 16 October 1941 and 31 January 1942. This is therefore not conclusive data, but only data concerning this period.
May I continue?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I quote only one line from the chapter entitled "Lithuania", which is on page 173 of the document book, third paragraph:
"As the result of numerous single operations, altogether 136,421 persons were liquidated." chapter entitled "Belorussia." I quote the last sentence of the last paragraph on page 5 of the Russian text, page 154 of the document book.
"The problem to continue a complete liquidation of Jews in the territory of Belorussia after the arrival of the Germans met with certain difficulties. The fact is that here the Jews constituted a very high percentage of specialists who in this territory, as the result of absence of other reserves, are quite indispensable. For such operation Group A has taken over this territory only after the operations had set in, and this fact fact seriously helped the carrying out of the mass executions. Further difficulties are that the Jews were dispersed over the entire territory, particularly in consideration of the fact that there ware large distances of bad roads, the absence of transportation, the lack of gas, as well as the small force of police engaged in the operation of carrying on of these executions, and it can only be fulfilled by a maximum of effort."
Never the less, all 41,000 Jews have been shot. This number does not include those that had been shot by previous commanders. I again interrupt the court and read from page 175 of the document book. Not with standing the difficult situation, "The commander of police in Belorussia had been ordered to solve the Jewish problem as soon as possible; never the less this will demand about two months, and will depend on the weather conditions and the distribution of Jews remaining in the existing depots and ghettos of Belorussia drawing to its end."
were carried out, I submit to the Tribunal as USSR No. 119-A a certified photostatic copy of a German document. This is the conclusive report of the Commander of one of the companies of the 12th Police Regiment, which carried out mass actions in view of the extermination of the Jews in the town of Pinsk.
On the 29th of October, 1942, at the scene of the 12th Police Regiment, there were exterminated 26,200 Jews. This is how the Commander of the regiment, Saur, described this crime. I will not quote the document in full--it is rather long--but will only quote a few excerpts.
"The surrounding of the districts was fixed for 4.30., and it appeared from the search taken beforehand that this surrounding was carried out in a very, very brief period. The checking of those in that operation in the ghetto began at six, but owing to darkness it was postponed for half an hour. The Jews who noticed the proceedings began to assemble voluntarily in all the streets. With the aid of two officers they succeeded during the very first hour to assemble several thousand Jew at a given point. When the other Jews noticedwhat was happening they joined this column so that the checking up operations, which had been foreseen by the checking by the SS could not be carried out, as a result of the great number of persons that were assembled. That was the first day of the checking operations only for the one or two thousand persons that had been planned. The first checking operation at 5.00 p.m. was carried out without incident About 10 thousand persons were executed on this first day. That night the company was standing by in a state of readiness in a soldiers' club, and on 30 October, 1942, the ghetto was combed out a second time On 31 October it was combed out for the third time, and on 1 November for the fourth time. Altogether about 15,000 Jews were assembled. Sick Jews and children left in houses were executed on the spot in the ghetto or in the yards. About 1200 Jews were executed in the ghetto." pass into the conclusion of this report, which is on page 178 of the document book. I quote two points in this "conclusion."
Point 3. Even when there are no cellars and a large number of persons are huddled together in a snail place under a floor, these places should be broken into from the outside, and dogs sent there so they can be driven out of there (in Pinsk this was accomplished remarkably well by the police dog Asta) or the throwing of hand grenades, after which in every case the Jews immediately came out.
Point 5. We recommend the calling up of children in order to disclose those hiding places by promising them their lives. This method may prove itself." ghettos, but the German Fascists did not apply this method alone in the extermination of peaceful citizens. One of the other methods was the assembly of Jews in a given spot under the pretense of reporting them to other localities; then the Jews which had been assembled were shot. in a street in Kislovodsk, which was posted by the Commander of number 12 regiment. The text of the document is on page 130 of the document book. I quote two extracts from this document.
"To all Jews with a view as to meager-populated districts of Ukrainia, all Jews who live in Kislovodsk and all Jews who have no permanent abode are obliged to present themselves on Wednesday, 9 September, 1942, 5 o'clock Berlin time, or 6 o'clock Moscow time, at a baggage station in Kislovodsk; the transport will take off at 6 o'clock. Every Jew is to bring along luggage which will not weigh more than 20 kilograms, including food for two days. Further food will be supplied at the station by German troops."
I skip the next paragraph and I quote only one line. "Those Jews who are to be shipped are also to be transferred." the town of Kislovodsk, and to the Jews in many other towns, I would like the Tribunal to refer to a document which already has been submitted to the Tribunal as number 1. It is a report of the Soviet Commission of the Stavropol region. The part which I wish to read is on page 185 of the document book. It states there that the Jews who had assembled at the Kislovodsk station were sent to the station of Mineral Waters, and were shot by anti-tank guns 2 1/2 kilometers away from the town.
Thousands of Jews, together with their families, which had been transferred from the town of Essentuki, were shot on the same spot. In order to check the extermination of Jewish population in Eastern Europe, I would like to refer to the report of the governments of these countries, which had been submitted to the Tribunal. the official statistical year book of Poland for 1931, that there were 3,115,000 Jews there, and according to the report of an official, on 9 September, 1939, there were about 3,500,000 Jews in Poland. After the liberation of Poland approximately less than 100,000 Jews were still living, and 200,000 Jews are arriving from the USSR; thus about 3,000,000 Jews perished in that area.
In Czechoslovakia there were about 118,000 Jews. At the present moment only 6000 Jews are in the country.
THE PRESIDENT: Can we leave off here. May we adjourn now?
(The Tribunal adjourned until 27 February 1946 at 10.
00 hours.)
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: May it please the Tribunal, I wonder if the Tribunal would allow me to make a very short explanation as to the source of the document with regard to Stalag Luft No. 3, which the Tribunal discussed yesterday.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: The position was that when evidence for this trial was collected, each government that might be concerned was written to and asked if they would produce government reports, and they have produced government reports which have been put before the Tribunal by the various sections of the prosecution. Luft No. 3 was a British Government report of the same type. It was compiled from various information which is included in the appendices, and that information included the interrogation of General Westhoff, which had been sent to the United Nations War Crimes Commission, as thousands of other documents were sent, for that Commission to consider whether any action should be taken from the matters deposed. Commission to the British Government and dealt with as part of the material upon which the British Government report was made. by myself, and I have specific authority from His Majesty's Government in Britain to perform such certification. appears in the record. I have the copy, which was sent to me on the official Cabinet paper, and purporting to be signed by Sir Edward Bridges, the Secretary to the Cabinet. The original was sent to the Attorney General, and the document is jointly to us both, but there is no doubt as to its authenticity, and the original can be produced if necessary.
The document reads:
"His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has authorized the Sight Honorable Sir Hartley Shawcross, K.C., M.P., the Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom, appointed under Article 14 of the Charter, annexed to the agreement dated the 8th day of August, 1945, and the Right Honorable Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, K.C., M.P., the Deputy Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom, to certify those documents to be produced at the trial of the war criminals before the International Military Tribunal, which are documents of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom." document becomes a governmental document within Article 21, and it is thereupon a mandatory injunction to the Tribunal that it shall take judicial notice of such a document. At that point the document, in my respectful submission to the tribunal, should be taken into evidence. And it is then, of course, a matter for the defense, if they wish to call any witnesses, to make such application as they desire, and for the Tribunal to rule on it. document is certified as a government document, as all these government reports are, the Charter enjoins the tribunal to take judicial notice of them.
THE PRESIDENT: Sir David, the Tribunal did admit the document yesterday, but they are glad of your explanation. Nothing in the order they made is in any way inconsistent with what you have now said.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FIFE: If Your Lordship pleases.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: May I continue, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Colonel Smirnov.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: Your Honors, I would like to recall certain data which I mentioned yesterday afternoon. I am speaking about the number of exterminated Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia. mentioned yesterday, according to the latest report, spoke of three million Jews having been exterminated in Poland. In Czechoslovakia, out of 118,000 Jews, only 6,000 remained living.
and will quote one paragraph, which the Tribunal will find on page 75 of the document book, the third paragraph:
"Out of 75,000 Yugoslav Jews and about 5,000 Jewish emigres from other countries who were in Yugoslavia at the time of the German attack--that is to say, out of about a total number of 80,000 Jews--only about 10,000 persons survived the German occupation." this data. This witness is Abram Gerzevitch Suzkover, a Jewish writer, who, together with his family, became a victim of the German fascist criminals who had temporarily occupied the territory of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. BY THE PRESIDENT:
Q What is your name?
Q Are you a Soviet citizen?
Q Will you repeat this after me? Republics, summoned as a witness in this trial, do promise and swear, in the presence of the Court, to tell the Court nothing but the truth about everything I know in regard to this case.
(The witness repeated the oath.)
THE PRESIDENT: You may sit down, if you wish.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: May I begin my examination, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. BY COLONEL SMIRNOV: occupation?
Q You stayed there during the German occupation for a long time? of the occupation.
Q You witnessed the persecution of the Jews in that town? in the town. In the streets of Vilna were formed Sonderkommandos, the chiefs of which were Schweineberg and Martin Weiss. The leaders of the Sonderkommandos, or, as the Jews called them, "Hunters", broke into the Jewish houses, dragged away the men, told them to take with them a piece of soap and a towel, and drove them towards the village of Panariai, 8 kilometers away from Vilna, from whence hardly anybody returned. part of the population hid. However, the Germans came with police dogs, found them, and those who did not want to go were shot on the spot. lawlessly. should wear a white marking on their chest. This order was signed by the commander of the town of Vilna, Helferrich, but on the second day some other commandant, named Neumann, issued another order that they should not wear this marking, but they should wear a yellow star.
Q And what did this yellow star marking mean? distinguish the Jews from the other inhabitants of the town.
On the third day there was again a new marking. One had to wear a blue ribbon with a white star. this sign, as was ordered by the Germans, were immediately arrested and we never saw them again. Novgorod Street. The inciters of this pogrom were Schweineberg and Martin Weiss, whom I have already mentioned, Herring and Faulhaber, who was the Chief of the Gestapo. They surrounded this district with Sonderkommandos; they drove all the men into the street, told them to take off their belts and to put their hands on their heads; that is, to hold their hands on their heads.
When that order had been complied with, they were sent to the Rokishka prison. But when the Jews started matching off, their trousers slipped down and they could no longer walk, and those who tried to hold up their trousers with their hands were immediately shot on the spot in the street. I saw with my own eyes how, when the whole column had moved off, the bodies of about 100 or 150 shot parsons lay about in the street, and rivulets of blood ran down the street as if it had rained with red drops. Welikomirj where I was going to visit my mother. He told me, "Go with me, and you will act in the circus." When I went with him I saw that another German was driving an old person along the street, and a third German was folding a young boy. When we reached the old synagogue of the street I saw that logs were stuck up in the shape of a pyramid in the square. One German took out his revolver and told us to take off our clothes. When we were naked, he lit a match and set fire to this stack of wood. Then another German came to us and told us that we should dance around this bonfire and that we should sing Russian songs. The three Germans stood behind us, and with their bayonets they forced us towards the fire and laughed. When we had nearly lost consciousness the Germans went away. began at the moment when Bezirkskommissar Hans Hincks arrived, as well as the Referant, or the reporter on the Jewish problem, Maurer.
THE PRESIDENT: Which year?
THE WITNESS: 1941.
THE PRESIDENT: Go on.
A (Continuing) Under the direction of Hincks and Maurer, the Sonderkommandos surrounded the old Jewish quarter of Vilna. On Rudnitskai Street, Jewish Street, Shafzell Street, German Street and others, were led about eight to ten thousand Jews. I was ill at that moment and was sleeping, but suddenly I felt the lash of a whip on me. When I jumped up from my bed I saw that Schweineberg was standing in front of me and that a big dog was with him. He was beating everybody, and setting us all to run out into the street.
When I was out in the street I saw a large number of women and children and aged persons, all those who lived in these houses. Schweineberg and the Sonderkommandos surrounded all this crowd, and he said that he was taking us to the Ghetto, but of course, as all the Germans said, this was again a lie. towards the Rokishka prison, we all understood that this was not the Ghetto, but of course, as all the Germans said, this was again a lie. towards the Rokishka prison, we all understood that this was not the Ghetto, but that it meant death. When we arrived at the Rokishka prison, near the so-called Rokishka market, I saw a line of German soldiers with white sticks, who were standing there to receive us. While we were passing them the soldiers started beating us. All those who fell, the other Jews were told to pick them up and to carry them to the prison. Near the prison I managed to escape. I swam over the River Vilia and hid in the house of my mother. told me that she saw there the well known Jewish scientist Noa Hatraluzi, who was dying, as well as the president of the Jewish Society of Vilna, Dr. Jacob Ragodski, as well as the young Jewish historian, Pjotzkond, as well as the well-known artists Hash and Kadisch, who were already dead. village of Panariai.
On the 6th of September, at 6 o'clock in the morning, a thousand Germans, led by Bezirkskommissar Hincks, and by Maurer, Schweineberg, Martin Weiss and others, surrounded the whole town, broke into the Jewish houses, and told the inhabitants to take only that which they could carry off in their hands, and go out into the street. Then they were driven off to the Ghetto. When they were passing by Welikomirj Street, and I was standing there, I saw the Germans had also brought sick Jews from the hospital, who were blue hospital robes. They put them in front of the column, and a German newsreel operator was driving in front of the column and he was filming this scene.